Stages of chronic hepatitis b disease and the relationship between urotensin-II

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major health problem in Turkey as well as all over the world. HBV and other reasons cause hepatocyte damage in liver by using different mechanisms and subsequently leading to fibrosis which results cirrhosis at the end. On the other hand, Urotensin-II leads to an increase in fibroblast cells through RhoA kinase and as a result these cells cause an increase in fibrosis. Thus, in increased Urotensin-II, active fibrosis also increases correlatively. In the present study, possible relationship between the phases of chronic hepatitis B and the levels of serum Urotensin-II is investigated by measuring serum Urotensin-II levels of chronic hepatitis B patients (inactive HBV carrier, chronic active hepatitis B and cirrhosis) and healthy volunteers. In this study, total number of 22 inactive HBV carriers, 21 patients diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B (chronic group), and 20 patients with cirrhosis of the liver (cirrhosis group) and as a control group 20 healthy volunteers over the age of 16 were included. In this study, serum Urotensin-II levels were examined by an Electrochemiluminescence immunoassay based device. The average levels of Urotensin-II in inactive group was 16,49±6,51 ng/ml, the average levels of Urotensin-II in chronic group was 19,92±7,21 ng/ml, the average levels of Urotensin-II in cirrhosis group was 9,01±4,07 ng/ml, and the average levels of Urotensin-II in control group was 16,69±7,43 ng/ml. These differences in the level Urotensin-II support the idea that active fibrosis is correlating with Urotensin-II levels due higher hepatocyte damage and inflammation, and as a result active fibrosis is present in chronic group compared to inactive group. In cirrhosis group average Urotensin-II levels were lower than chronic group. This can be interpreted as decreased fibroblastic activity in cirrhosis group in which ongoing process of fibrosis is completed and complete fibrosis is formed. Particularly, Urotensin-II can be an indicator for active ongoing fibrosis because it has reached its highest levels in chronic active HBV stage in which active inflammation and fibrosis continues. Keywords: Inactive HBV carriage, Chronic active hepatitis B, Cirrhosis, Urotensin-II